Always And Forever
by daqu
Summary: Justine and Holtz made their way to Utah and now 12 years later Angel’s finally coming after his son. Will Connor want to go back with his father? Will Holtz and Justine give him up without a fight? NOT YET COMPLETED
1. Prologue

.:.PROLOGUE.:.

Justine's jaw ached horribly, but that wasn't going to stop her. Not today, not now. Daniel was counting on her. She slowed Wesley's car when she saw Daniel walking out into the street. When she pulled the car to a complete stop, he got in and looked at her expectantly.

"It went well?" he asked her. Justine knew him well enough to know that he was expecting a certain answer, but if it hadn't gone well she wouldn't be there.

"Very well," Justine said. "You're paying for my dental work." Daniel smiled at her. It was an understanding smile, as if he was expecting her to say something else on the subject, but she didn't.

Daniel looked into the back seat where Angelus's son was sitting in the car seat. "Hello, son. I'm you're father. And that strong lady with the black eye is your mother." Justine smirked at this comment. "Your name is Steven Franklin Thomas. And you're going to grow up with me on a little ranch in the middle of nowhere." Daniel turned back to Justine. "What's it like in Utah?"

Justine smiled. "It's pretty," she said, pressing her foot on the accelerator.

"Let's go."

They were only driving a few moments when a bunch of cars suddenly came out of nowhere and veered them off the road.

"Shit," Justine muttered under her breath. She got out of the car and Daniel grabbed Angelus's son before joining her. Angelus hopped out of one of the cars and started running toward them. Justine ran to meet him but he pushed her away almost immediately.

"Come any closer and I'll snap his neck!" Daniel said in a commanding voice. Justine wasn't quite sure how well this was going to work. How much love could a vampire have for a human?

Apparently more than Justine gave him credit for. Angelus stopped dead in his tracks and all around them people were beginning to get out of the cars and cocked their machine guns. Justine started to walk back over to where Daniel was still clutching onto Angelus's son.

"Who are they?" Daniel asked, never showing any sign of fear.

A woman with long, brown hair stepped out of the darkness. "They work for me."

Apparently Daniel knew who this was because he said, "Ah, the attorney."

"Yes," the woman said. "You _are_ going to give us the kid, Captain Holtz."

"Don't," Angelus commanded. Justine could've laughed. Apparently the attorney had the same thought.

"That's cute," she said. "You'd rather see the fanatic with the baby than us?" Daniel grabbed onto the sleeve of Justine's jacket, sensing that she was about to go tackle the woman. "These are automatic weapons pointed at you. They didn't have them in your time," the attorney said. "And they fire sixteen bullets per second."

"And if they were going to use them they would've already," Angelus said. "They want the baby alive."

"Something we all have in common," Daniel said with an elegance of simplicity.

To Justine's utter and complete horror, the air seemed to shiver and Sahjhan appeared out of nowhere. "Not all of us," he said. If he could be killed, Justine would've killed him right then at that very moment. Daniel loosened his grip on her, but still didn't completely let go.

"You do not want the child alive," Sahjhan told the attorney. "You want the child dead. That was our arrangement."

"Yeah, I'm a lawyer. Have you met me?" The attorney asked. "We have a new arrangement. I'm keeping the baby."

"You can't do that," Sahjhan said in amazement.

"Ignore the loudmouth with the bad skin," the attorney commanded her people. Justine smirked. "He's impotent in this dimension."

"We're leaving," Daniel said. Justine was relieved. She immediately went to close the back door of the car.

"No one's going anywhere," the attorney said. Her people cocked their guns again, but Angelus kicked a gun out of one of the people's hands and knocked him over. He pointed the gun at the attorney, who promptly said in a scared voice, "Don't shoot." How could Angelus undergo such a huge personality change?

"Yeah, you really don't want to," Angelus said knowingly. "Your bullets won't kill me. But mine'll kill you and her first." He reinforced that the gun was still pointed at the attorney.

Angelus's baby started fussing and Angelus looked over at Daniel. The gun he was holding followed his gaze and Justine's heart leapt in her throat. "He'll be dead before I hit the ground," Daniel said.

"I know," Angelus said in a defeated voice.

"So, I'm going to leave now, right?" Daniel asked just to be sure. "With me he gets to live. Anyone tries to take him, he dies." It was amazing how the entire scene changed. Everyone started looking really uncomfortable, even Angelus.

"Take him," Angelus said. Justine wasn't sure how many more surprises she could take.

"Whoa, no! What is wrong with you people!" Sahjhan demanded.

"I will take very good care of him, as if he were my own son," Daniel said sincerely. Justine knew that he would, too. "He'll never even know you existed. But come after me—you will, though, won't you? Maybe I should just—" he put his hand around the baby's throat, but Justine knew he wasn't really going to kill him. He wanted that baby.

"No, please," Angelus begged. Justine looked from Daniel to Angelus and back toward Daniel when Angelus said, "Take him."

Daniel hurriedly stepped into the car and Justine ran around to the other side and jumped in. "Drive!" Daniel commanded. Justine immediately sped off, knowing that if they stayed behind they would be in deep trouble.

They drove all through the night. Justine's eyes were itching with tiredness when Daniel finally told her to stop. She was relieved and let her head lean back and she closed her eyes for a moment.

Justine looked at the abandoned house they stopped in front of. It was almost completely covered in vines and there was a forest behind the house.

"You got your middle of nowhere, Daniel," Justine joked.

Daniel smiled at her as he grabbed Steven out of the car seat. They walked up to the door and Daniel said, "Open the door, Justine."

She placed her hand on the mucky doorknob and pushed, but with the combination of the power of the vines and her tiredness she couldn't get the door open.

"What's wrong, Justine?" Daniel asked her. "You've always done what I asked of you."

"Daniel, I'd follow you to the gates of hell," Justine said slowly. "You know that. It's just that I've been up all night and this house is covered in vines."

Daniel looked up at the sky. "Break down the door," he said. Justine rammed against the door and it swung clean off the hinges. "See, that wasn't too hard, was it?" Justine threw him a disbelieving look. They walked inside and realized that the entire place was completely empty. It was just a little one-room cottage and the only thing inside was dust.

"This is just great," Justine said sarcastically. She took off her jacket and instantly a chill ran up her arms. She gently took Steven from Daniel and wrapped him in her jacket and set him on the floor. "He'll be fine, Daniel," she said. "He'll be okay."


	2. Angelus Returns

**Chapter 1-Angelus Returns**

Daniel, this is stupid," Justine complained one morning in early September. "Angelus is never going to come after Steven."

"Ah, but you don't know him like I do," Daniel told her. "Once Angelus comes after something there's no stopping him."

"Over the last twelve years we've lived in fourteen different places." Justine paused. "Look, the reason you wanted Steven in the first place was because you wanted him to have a normal life. Angelus could never have given him that, but this isn't normal."

Daniel looked at Justine suspiciously. Over the last twelve years, ever since they got Steven, she had changed drastically. She was no longer a naïve girl full of a thirst for vengeance. There was a time about seven years ago when he really noticed the change in her. It was the dead of night and she was with Steven because he had a nightmare.

All of a sudden there was a loud bang outside and the little shack shook. They had been living in Colorado at the time, and vampires had stormed the house in search of Steven. Their constant moving and remote locations kept away most of the publicity, but there had still been a few. The moment those vampires set foot in the house Justine flew at them and fought and staked every last one. The next day they were in Kansas.

"Justine, this isn't a matter of life and death. We've been here fourteen months now."

"Exactly," she replied. "If Angelus had any hope of finding us he would've already."

Before Daniel could reply, Steven walked into the room and looked at them suspiciously.

"You two were fighting again," he said softly. He had very honed senses, almost to the point of supernatural.

"It's nothing, Steven," Justine assured him. "Go back to bed."

"Steven, we're relocating," Daniel said in his commanding voice. "Go pack your things." Justine shot him a look of death but he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her. Steven just shrugged and walked back into his room.

Daniel won the argument, as he always did. Justine had no idea where he was planning on going, but within fifteen minutes they were all ready to go. As soon as they stepped out a burly man stepped around the corner of the house and said, "Hello, Holtz. I thought I'd find you here."

It was Angelus.


End file.
